Like so many National Football League teams in the first two weeks of the regular season, the New England Patriots have been hit hard by a rash of injuries.
So far, the quarterback position and Drake Maye have been impervious to those woes.
Starting quarterbacks Jayden Daniels, Jaxson Dart, Caleb Williams, Michael Penix, Tua Tagovailoa, Kyler Murray and Sam Darnold have all gone down or at least missed time with injuries.
Some like Dart and Daniels appear to be long-term. There is suddenly a scramble for QBs around the league. If things get worse and demand grows, prices will rise.
The temptation might be there
Would the New England Patriots ever consider dangling their backup, Tommy DeVito, on the trade market?
With needs rising around the league, it might be worth New England’s time. DeVito has some starter’s experience, eight games in fact, with the New York Giants.
Bleacher Report came out with its “Trade Block Big Board” heading into Week 3, and a pair of backup QBs came up on the list, including San Francisco’s Mac Jones at No. 1.
DeVito might entice some desperate team like the Giants or the Commanders, each of which is banking on success in 2026, to make a call or two to Foxborough.
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Certainly an interesting option
With a career passer rating of 88.4, DeVito is fully entrenched as Maye’s backup. He showed competence throughout the summer in training camp and in preseason games and seems to have picked up the Josh McDaniels offense quite nicely.
“Day and night for sure (between last year and this year). Everything definitely between the ears, especially because being able just to know what the defense is doing— that is a testament to the offense and the way that the plays are called and just helping me figure out what they are doing before I even snap the ball, and it just makes that game that much easier,” DeVito explained about his growth from 2025, where he was the No. 3 in New England, to now.
But there is another “No. 3” in the picture. Rookie Behren Morton, a seventh-round pick out of Texas Tech, has also had a fine summer/fall and could be the developmental guy and No. 2 man to Maye, making DeVito expendable.
Of course, the price would have to be right.
